


"I'm Sorry, Buddy..."

by ObserverFuck



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Feels, I'm Bad At Tagging, Other, Spoilers, i'm too tired for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 16:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21497392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObserverFuck/pseuds/ObserverFuck
Summary: The cackling of an angelic demon.The laughter of a monster.A crash...And a friendly wolf trying to wake a half conscious artist...
Relationships: Boris & Henry Stein, Thomas Connor/Allison Pendle
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	"I'm Sorry, Buddy..."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm too exhausted to check for typos right now. Please take this dumb sad.

Henry jumped a little when he heard the small rustling sound of movement. He stood up straight, the adrenaline still pumping through him from the previous chase the ink demon had given way to. "I know you're in here. Come out and show yourself," he demanded. The calm footsteps caught him slightly off guard as a life-sized Boris walked into view.

Henry could only stare for a few seconds before finding his voice.

"Boris...?"

__________

Waking up and determining his whereabouts were Henry's main concerns. He blinked a few times, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. A deep breath followed. What had happened to get him here? He wracked his weary mind for answers, and he remembered visiting the old workshop when an inky demon resembling Bendy had started chasing him after he turned the ink machine on. Then, he had found Boris... right? That was all real, right...?  
The former animator shook his head and finally left the cramped room.

Walking past some ink stained overalls that were hung up on a line to dry, Henry looked on at the relaxed human-like wolf that nodded his head to a happy tune playing from an old, dusty gramophone. His gloved fingertips tapped the table, and his long ears bobbed along. A smile tugged at the brunette's lips as he walked into the bigger room, feeling more comfortable now that the upbeat melody drifted around the atmosphere. As he glanced at the door, he noticed something missing; a lever...

Knowing what he would need to do, Henry walked up to Boris who looked up to meet his eyes. "Hey, Buddy. You seen that lever, or are you holding it hostage until I make you something to eat?" The toon didn't budge. "I though so. Let's see what we got," he mumbled. He looked over to his right, spotting a can of Bacon Soup sitting atop a barrel. The tired man took it and went over to a shelf after noticing another can. That made two, but one more can was needed to make a fulfilling amount of soup for a hungry, though friendly, wolf.

Walking back to the room he'd woke up in, Henry opened a huge chest that contained all kinds of various junk including another can of Bacon Soup. He smiled to himself. Success!  
"That should be enough," he said to no one in particular. As he turned to leave, something caught his eye; a bone? He picked it up and shrugged, walking back to the stove in the other room. He turned it on, let it heat up, then poured the soup into the pot while nodding to the melody of the record that continued playing next to his new friend. When the soup was finally done, he poured it into a bowl and walked over to serve Boris his meal. Boris pulled out a box in return, and thankfully, the box contained Henry's missing piece.

Before Henry could get to fixing the lever, however, a small rumbling sound from his stomach had Boris looking up while he ate his soup. He then silently looked over to the remains still in the pot, and Henry chuckled nervously. Perhaps he was hungrier than he realized.  
One bowl wouldn't hurt.

The two ate in a calm silence, letting the soft music wash away the previously somber mood, and when they had finished the small meal, Henry fixed the lever next to the door and prepared himself. He paused just before exiting.  
"Oh yeah," he said to the mute wolf. He handed him the bone he'd picked up earlier. "I thought you might want this." Boris's ears perked up even higher than they already were, and he exitedly took the bone sideways in his mouth like any typical dog would. Henry laughed as he pulled the lever, and the two walked out into the cold reality of the dark, inky world that was the abandoned studio.

__________

Through all of the angel's torturous errands, there was always a silly toon-wolf creature that stood tall like a human, but carried a bone in his mouth like a dog. He stayed in the elevator and watched over Henry every time they traveled to a different floor. He liked it when the brunette stepped back into the shaky lift safe, and mostly uninjured. Every once in a while, the former studio employee would chuckle at him, or pat him on the head gently. They went around the different floors together, dreading the moments when Henry had to step out into the dangerous areas full of shadows and threats, but they always appreciated the moments when he came back alive.

When the tasks had been completed and Alice had agreed to let the two go, Henry and Boris grinned happily at each other in the lift despite still being a bit shaken after all they had seen. They listened to her rambling as they ascended, and they watched all the different levels pass by while the lift moved shakily upward. All was finally going well until a rough banging sound...

The cackling of an angelic demon.

The laughter of a monster.

_A crash..._

And a friendly wolf trying to wake a half conscious artist...

In an instant, the frantic Boris was pulled away from Henry, and the man was left with nothing but sorrow, fear, and a now fully unconscious state...

__________

Everything he had gone through, all of the poor souls he had found, and all of the creatures he had mourned on his little rescue mission... all of it was for nothing. Nothing but more agony, more regret. God, the regret tore his chest to pieces, and the artist almost screamed at the sight of his best friend's new form. The cart Henry was riding in had been thrown back, leaving him to stand and take in the sight of the monster that roared loudly before him. His eyes stung when he saw that the bone he had given the cheery character was now forced into his teeth, stuck between his jaws like a sick accessory.

Knowing he would have to fight hurt more than anything in the world, but he did it. He fought the brute using the poor creature's own ink to create pipes from the rickety Gent machine against the wall of the mansion room. When the beast appeared to be at his worst, he resorted to throwing carts at the distressed man who knew it would only take one more hit to end its life. Picking up the pipe, Henry felt all of his emotions rush through him as he charged at the weak, mutated thing that had saved his life and made everything a little brighter in the dark, ink covered world of the old studio. Tears fell down his cheeks, his teeth were clenched, and Henry let out a soul crushing scream of misery as he plunged the pipe into the golden hearts that resided within his friend's exposed ribcage.

The angry, defeated cries of the angel rang in the animator's ears as he watched Boris collapse onto his back, small grunts of pain tearing through his throat as he took his last few breaths. The ink overtook the character that Henry himself had created on a blank sheet of paper over thirty years ago...

A sob tore through him before Boris vanished completely, but a screech brought him back into what was happening around him. The angel was running at him at him, but he just stood there. He didn't care anymore. He closed his eyes and waited for the feeling of being ripped apart by her vicious claws.

The feeling never came.

Instead, a sword penetrated her chest, and she glanced up at him in shock before falling to the ground, her strangled breaths going quiet as she bled a pool of ink. Henry looked up slowly. There stood another Alice Angel who looked worn down, but battle ready alongside another Boris. This Boris had a metallic left arm and an angrier expression. That was all he saw, or all he remembered, before everything faded to black once again.

__________

When the angel had handed Henry the strange, mirror-like object, he didn't think much of it until he looked through it. Now that it had helped him escape the ink demon, he planned to follow after the odd pair that had shown up after the traumatic experience of murdering his innocent companion.

He didn't expect to kill even more ink creatures and then fall through an unsteady wooden board, but things continued to tumble even further downhill. Henry was beginning to wonder just how much more his mental state could take before he broke completely, but after draining some ink and discovering a certain reel in a box, he got another surprise.

Allison and Tom had managed to get down to him, and a short conversation about Henry's suicidal plan to find the ink demon's layer ensued. While Allison seemed to be thinking his plans over, Henry glanced at the living cartoon with the metallic left arm. Tom seemed to glare at him, but that didn't stop the curious artist from hesitantly raising the device he had been given. Allison watched the most broken look she had ever seen cross Henry's face. Ever so quietly, she walked over to gaze through the glowing object with him.

It was a bone.  
The glowing shape of a bone could be seen in the confines of Tom's teeth. She didn't understand, and neither did Tom, but they did understand that whatever had caused this ghost of an object to appear in Tom's mouth was causing Henry to remember something painful. The tears in the artist's eyes were enough to prove that, and they fell despite his best efforts to hold them back. He apologized profusely even with Allison's reassurances, and he dried his eyes as quickly as he could. When they were ready to continue moving forward, and the door in their way had been forced open, Henry could have sworn he saw Tom wearing a much softer expression on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> So... "Dreams Come to Life" anyone-?


End file.
